Turn Any Goods into Drone

The Japanese company Prodrone demonstrated a modular platform PD-ANY which can transform multiple items into drones for transportation purposes. The technology description was published on the company’s website.

PD-ANY platform is a set of separate modules with a rotor and control electronics. Each module is attached to the load separately turning a transported object into a quadro- or hexakopter. Each module is an independent device with its own battery and electronics module. In this case, the user assigns the main module which synchronizes the work of other modules.

One module weighs 1kg, and the set of four modules can be adapted for transporting a cargo weighing up to 15kg. The maximum flight speed provided by PD-ANY modules is 20 km h, and the flight time is limited to 10 minutes. During the testing process, the company attached the rotors to a chair turning it into a full-fledged drone, and also showed how the modules can be used to facilitate the carried load by attaching them to a table.

So far, there are no reports about possible mass production and the price for the set of rotors. By the way, in September 2016, Prodrone already showed a cargo multi-copter PD6B-AW-ARM, equipped with two manipulators capable of grabbing a weight of up to 20kg.